Cirrus@Austlit

'Tennyson, Victoria, has a history that most people have forgotten about- beneath local houses runs a network of ungazetted gold rush mine shafts. When two people go missing, two weeks before the local election, no one is looking down below or no one who actually wants to find the missing women.

'Her daughter Margy at high school, Lucy is about to go back to work as an astronomer. Her husband Justin is an ophthalmologist who's also running for state government. The election is in two weeks and Justin has a secret- he's been taking money from Lucy's account.

'When Lucy doesn't turn up at dinnertime one night, there are clues that something is wrong- the family dog, Kepler barks for attention from the front yard, not the back; Lily's mother Renata knows that Lucy would never miss their meet up.

Margy's new friend, Lily, is certain something serious has happened to Lucy, and she keeps telling Margy she has to go looking for Mum. Until Lily disappears too.
When Lucy wakes at the bottom of a mineshaft, her rational mind rails against this possibility. Time should go backwards; she should fall up. She imagines her life at home and slowly counts to see her through her isolation- steps before she fell; heartbeats; breathing the earth's rotation; cicadas singing; pendant swinging on a pendulum; collecting ants and pebbles and words. When Justin decides he'd be better off without her she's left with nothing but her vision of the stars above.' (Publication summary) 

'A small Yarra Valley town has been devastated by a bushfire, and Reefton Primary School principal Phoebe Warton can't sleep. She's the single mother of eighteen-year-old Caleb who is accused of starting the fire—on purpose. Phoebe will be forced to confront the nature of guilt and redemption, and decide what boundaries she is willing to cross to save the son she loves. Torched is an explosive, haunting and compelling crime novel about mothers and sons and the ties that bind them.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'Tuscany, 1096 AD. Luca, young heir to the title of Conte de Falconi, sees demons. Since no one else can see them, Luca must keep quiet about what he sees, or risk another exorcism by the nefarious priest Ramberti.

'Luca also has dreams—dreams that sometimes predict the future. Night after night Luca sees his father murdered, and vows to stop it coming true. Even if he has to go against his father’s wishes and follow him on the great pilgrimage to capture the Holy Lands.

'Far away in Cappadocia, Suzan has dreams too. Consigned with her mute mother to a life in an underground convent, she has a vision of a brown-haired boy riding through the desert. A boy with an ancient book that holds some inscrutable power. A boy who will take her on an adventure that will lead to places beyond both their understanding.

'Together, Luca and Suzan will realise their true quest: to defeat the forces of man and demon that wish to destroy the world.' (Publication summary)